Programming-Informatics

Software is among the highest risk elements in any new technical infrastructure, such as aerospace. Stable software with a small footprint and reduced power requirement is one of the most crucial glues needed to bring all of the services into mass cooperation and seamless integration.

Sovaris Aerospace and its partners have a unique capability to address large scale integration of technology, data services, embedded components, and legacy environment in highly abbreviated time-frames that match the schedule of technologically challenging projects. These same attributes of this platform can be applied to areas beyond aerospace, such as robotics, biotechnology, and various forms of imaging. The small footprint allows us to operate effectively in very small device environments. Application areas include (but are not limited to):

Robotics

Medicine

Biotechnology

Imaging (space, medical, other)

Spacecraft systems

Communications

Atmospherics

Avionics

An array of other aerospace technology fields

Through Sovaris’ joint ventures, we are able to offer software engineering services that consist of two main elements:

An advanced, novel, object-oriented programming language (COOP-ER™)

An advanced Omnidex database

1) COOP-ER™ (common object-oriented programming for the end user)

The components within COOP-ER™ consist of foundational building blocks of application development. In addition, COOP-ER™ is an open architecture that provides the ability to integrate new technologies as they become available. New objects are created that can be instantly used by application developers. For instance, incorporating GPS into an application is as simple as sending a message to the object.

Current programming languages are structured in a manner similar to Latin and their vocabulary is static. COOP-ER™ is the first non-static language. The vocabulary expands as technologies emerge. COOP-ER™ uses a network centric approach to its architecture and COOP-ER’s™ messages are equivalent to lines of code. All messages adhere to the same format, which makes COOP-ER™ easy and fast to learn (i.e. even non-programs have been able to learn COOP-ER™ in a week with proficiency in a month). The underlying objects hide the details and technical complexity. One message can replace thousands of lines of ‘C’ code. Each object has been tested in highly complex 7/24 environments. The result is that COOP-ER™ is very stable with no known bugs.

Table 1. Attributes of COOP-ER vs. Conventional Programming

COOP-ER Attributes

Conventional Programming Attributes

Technology and computer science know-how is integrated into the language along with all the error handling, making it bulletproof. Programmers only need to create application logic

Programmers need to write the application logic along with the added lines of code to achieve technology integration and test all the error conditions. Programmers make errors that produce unstable software.

Open architecture makes it easy to integrate new technologies, making the service instantly available to programmers.

Current programming tools have a fixed vocabulary that doesn’t include technology.

Programmers don’t need to know any technical details.

Developers need to learn how to wield new technologies and understand the technical nuances in order to incorporate the service into an application.

COOP-ER is operating system agnostic. Programmers can create under MSWindows and have the application instantly work on Linux, Mac OS, iPhone, Unix, etc.

Programmers need to port the application to each operating system.

COOP-ER has no grammar, just keywords and values, making it simple to learn. It has a facility to allow the vocabulary to be changed to any native spoken language.

Current languages require a programmer to learn a grammar/syntax along with a vocabulary. These languages are based on knowing English.

COOP-ER creates variables on the fly based on use. All memory is managed automatically as well as the format it needs to be in. It is impossible to create errors in memory utilization.

Development languages require that the programmer define placeholder variable up-front, manage memory space, and manipulate how the data is formatted for use. It is easy to create memory leaks or creep memory consumption.

A line-of-code is a message that is directed to an object to a computer science staff member written in software. A message hides thousands of lines of code. There is no code duplication in COOP-ER, making the executable and application highly compact, as well as easy to learn given every message is the same format. COOP-ER has no known bugs, making applications extremely stable.

Programmers need to write the lines of code that a message hides. This results in redundant work around the world. Programmers are sloppy in brute-force bloated solutions that contain errors.

Large complex applications weigh in at less than 1 megabyte.

Same solution weighs in at 20 to 100 megabytes.

COOP-ER’s message-based architecture makes it simple to create massively cooperative and parallel applications. Even a lay programmer can construct applications using the network as a nervous system. Messages are simply directed to objects that have a network address in addition to their name.

Massively parallel applications are hard to build with existing tools. The programmer has to create the communication infrastructure in order to execute distributed software.

Parallelism and load leveling are in the hands of the programmer who knows resource demands (e.g. re-accommodating passengers on a single flight versus an entire hub airport).

The operating system and network tools try to guess how to load level and are often highly inefficient.

Basics can be learned in 2 weeks. Proficiency can be achieved in 4 weeks of applying it.

Takes months to learn and years to master. Many aspects of creating complex applications require degrees in Computer Science.

The messaging approach makes it possible to leverage networks and cooperative computing. The omni message router can direct messages to any device on the network that has a receiver router. This approach makes it easy for programmers to create software that is distributed across multiple computers. For example, an automated airport contains a robotic re-accommodation module. If a single flight is canceled it dispatches a message to one server to re-accommodate the affected passengers. If hundreds of flights are canceled due to weather, the software dispatches messages to several computers with flight numbers that each individual server will process.

It is not unusual to have software projects that span a decade but which yield no deliverables. COOP-ER™ makes it possible to create new applications in highly abbreviated time-frames. Most COOP-ER™ applications can be written in less than 12 months using a small team of developers.

2) An Advanced Omnidex Database

Omnidex™ evolved from the commercial environment. Its focus is on indexing extremely large amounts of structured and unstructured (free-text) data. OmniSearch™ and PowerSearch™ form the basis for a powerful FIND engine that allows users to combine structured column requests along with unstructured word and phrase oriented search criteria.

Omnidex™ was created to handle extremely large databases, while still delivering sub-second responses on multi-dimensional views. It has evolved over 25 years to address the information management needs that have arisen as a result of accumulating large amounts of transaction and historic data. In addition, it uniquely addresses data integration across disparate sources.

Omnidex’s architecture is uniquely suited to adapt to large blocks of numeric data and provide a structure that allows for flexible and extremely fast retrieval. Several structured dimensions can categorize data elements. For example, satellite data categorizes the data by latitude, longitude, timestamp, brightness values, and infrared values. However, the entire sweep for a satellite pass can also be indexed as a block where its data values are also accessible as part of search criterion. This approach makes it possible to ask for an extraction of specific information over a 96-hour period where infrared values are greater than ‘X’; and where ‘X’ is a value hot enough to potentially indicate a fire.

The power of N-Omnidex™ is that it is a hybrid of capabilities that integrate tradition database structures and retrievals, combined with free-text, and now the inclusion of massively large numeric data fields. N-Omnidex™ extends the Omnidex™ technology to include a new suite of processing capabilities and data structures uniquely optimized for numeric data. Its ability to incorporate commercial features with numeric extraction opens the way to extraordinary discoveries in virtually every scientific field. Image the power of integrating medical test results, x-Ray and MRI data, with medical records, pharmaceutical trials, and the “Physician’s Desk Reference”. In addition, N-Omnidex™ makes it possible to use Omnidex synonyms to apply to data value equivalency. Imagine the power of retrieving space satellite data by requesting the location of all ‘quasars’ instead of data ranges on the attributes that would define a quasar amongst the space telescope data.

Another application of N-Omnidex™ is to capture and manage the outcome of forecasts and models. This approach would take a snapshot of input parameters and store it in the database along with indexing it for flexible retrieval. The results of the execution of models would also be captured and indexed. Both of these components are powerful research tools that are not available today.

Benefits

There are many benefits to Omnidex. Its primary competitive feature consists of a rich suite of capabilities contained within a single technology that addresses an extraordinarily broad spectrum of needs. Other products contain some of the facets of Omnidex. However, the combination of all of them offers users the ability to create applications and services that heighten the barrier to imitation. The key benefits are best described as Return-on-Investments, which are:

affordability – low cost by comparison to other on the surface ‘similar’ product offerings;